This 1973 classic, adapted from the 1971 book of the same name, tells the story of a 12-year-old girl named Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) who gets possessed by the devil after using a Ouija board to communicate with her imaginary friend Captain Howdy. Aside from being terrifying because it’s a movie about a possessed preteen who pukes green slime, says the nastiest stuff she can think of, and pees on floors, this gets an extra scare boost because it was inspired by a true story — novelist William Peter Blatty adapted his book from the tale of Roland Doe, a young boy in Cottage City, Maryland, who underwent an exorcism in 1949.

2. The Witch

A24

Robert Eggers’s debut feature-length film builds at a slow pace that you’ll either totally love or hate with a passion. The story revolves around a Puritan family who more or less gets run out of town due to the father’s pride, then sets up a home in a remote part of the woods all by themselves. Set in 17th-century New England, the dialogue is often hard to understand, so if you find yourself wanting to turn on the subtitles as things start moving along, feel free — there are a lot of crazy quotes in this that you really shouldn’t risk missing. As the atmosphere builds and the family starts to fall apart (read: accuse each other of being witches), a patient viewer will be swept away into one of the most satisfying, dark, and honestly kind of metal endings ever. It’s so bleak that it received an endorsement from the actual Satanic Temple. When it comes to scary movies, you can’t get a better review than “endorsed by friends of Satan.”

3. The Babadook

IFC

The Babadook relies heavily on the popular "kids are scary" trope in horror films, and centers on a recently widowed mom of a 6-year-old named Samuel who, after reading a pop-up book about a top-hat-wearing ghoul named Mister Babadook, spends the rest of the movie screaming bloody murder and attempting to convince his mom that the Babadook is real.

4. Paranormal Activity

Paramount

These films have since become a franchise, but when the first one came out in 2007 it was a game-changer. Every moment of this movie plays upon the viewer’s ultimate fears: (1) people staring at you while you sleep, (2) the person you’re romantically tied to being secretly evil, and (3) actual ghosts in your actual house. Filmed in such a way as to make it seem like real life, or at least real life presented via a home movie, it’s expertly paced and leaves you dreading the nighttime scenes, for obvious reasons.

5. The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Screen Gems

Another exorcism movie that’s supposedly based on a true story, this one stars Jennifer Carpenter (aka Dexter’s sister) as Emily Rose, a country girl who goes away to college and then becomes possessed by the devil (I guess you could use this as a cautionary tale about the dangers of going to school if you really wanted to). The inspiration for the film came from the story of Anneliese Michel, a supposedly possessed woman who died from starvation after a series of unsuccessful exorcism attempts in 1976. Carpenter’s ability to twist and contort her body as her character falls more and more under the spell of evil forces is so mesmerizing that it should have won an award.

6. The Visit

Universal

Many horror fans try to say that this wasn’t scary both before and after it came out because it’s only rated PG-13 and it’s an M. Night Shyamalan movie. Regardless of the film’s rating, this depiction of the grossest, creepiest “grandparents” to spring forth from a writer’s twisted mind (also M. Night Shyamalan) is haunting.

7. The Ring

Dreamworks

Some people prefer the original Japanese version of this film to the 2002 remake staring Naomi Watts, so if you have time, watch both, but if you don’t, start here. There was a really exciting period in the early 2000s when the film industry made some exciting changes to the usual format of horror movies. This movie, among others, helped introduce a transition from slasher and monster films to a more psychological approach that relies on suspense and anticipation more than in-your-face jump scares. As anyone who’s seen Samara crawling out of that TV knows, the visuals in this tale of a cursed videotape that causes the viewer to die shortly after seeing it are effective (to say the least).

8. It Follows

This is a movie that’s super fun to approach not knowing much about it, because if you hadn’t already been tipped off to the fact that it’s a scary movie, you’d be surprised by how things ramp up as you’re experiencing it for the first time. There are a lot of legitimate scares in It Follows that catch you by surprise but are still very subtle, which makes it feel refreshing, fun, and horrifying at the same time.

9. 28 Days Later

Fox Searchlight

Zombie movies have pretty much been the same, give or take a few details, since Night of the Living Dead came out in 1968: Slow-moving zombies, arms outstretched, making “urrrgh, arrrgh” noises while they lumber toward you in hopes they'll be able to eat your brains. 28 Days Later comes at the genre in a new way by, first and foremost, making the zombies fast, and by using an atmospheric soundtrack to really highlight an overall feeling of unease.

10. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Movie Poster Image Art/Getty

Pulling details from true-crime tales of the past like that of Ed Gein, a Wisconsin serial killer who murdered people and made furniture and clothing out of their flesh, this is one of the creepiest classics there is. The grainy quality of the cinematography and the over-the-top supporting characters make this a must-see. Even if you’ve already seen this 25 times, it’s worth watching at least once a year because it never gets old.

11. The Shining

Warner Bros.

Jack Nicholson’s face is made of nightmares. His performance in Stanley Kubrick’s reimagining of the classic Stephen King novel is so beyond memorable that it’s iconic. This movie has it all, and you should just buy it right now if you don’t already own it.

12. Hellraiser

Getty Images

A gothic favorite due to its heavy reliance on evil, pain, gallows humor, and metal body adornments, this first film of a very popular franchise is a night ruiner. The main focus of this is a character named Pinhead (above), who’s called that because he has pins stuck in his face and head. If you like gore and just about every other disgusting and grim thing you can dream up in your worst nightmares, then this movie is for you.

13. Halloween

Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty

The overall lumbering creepiness of Halloween’s most famous stalker, Michael Myers, makes this a must-see. Director and composer John Carpenter’s use of sound and tension, plus Jamie Lee Curtis’s performance as the original scream queen, makes this a no-brainer for the season, even as you come to the hopeless understanding that yes, she’s going to go investigate what that noise is, and yes, she’s going to fall while running, and yes, Michael Myers is gonna pop out with his creepy mask face when you least expect it. Watch this on a super-cold night with a mountain of snacks and a cozy blanket. That’s truly living life to the fullest.

14. The Silence of the Lambs

20th Century Fox

One of the most controversial movies ever made, this truly blew minds when it came out in 1991 (and won five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Actor). The combination of Anthony Hopkins as the seductively grotesque Hannibal Lecter, Jodie Foster as the take-nary-a-shit Clarice Starling, and some lotion in a basket makes this a highly enjoyable roller coaster of freakouts. Based on the popular novel by Thomas Harris, a psychological thriller of this caliber only comes around about once in a lifetime.

15. Black Swan

Fox Searchlight

While some may argue this doesn't fall into the horror genre, this is another film that is actually pretty terrifying. It’s got a creepy, overbearing mom, finger skin that peels off, and Winona Ryder going completely mental in the best possible way. Darren Aronofsky directed this, and since he’s also responsible for such soul-crushing hits as Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler, it makes sense that this has a similar effect.

16. The Blair Witch Project

Artisan

Released in 1999, this movie was one of the first to use the now-common technique of framing a scripted film as found footage. A thriller about a group of friends who take off into the woods to document the myth of a witch who kills people, it’s effective for what it is. Initial reviews claimed that people were passing out in movie theaters from fear, and there are definite elements of terror to be had here. If you can stomach the shaky handheld camera and the screaming, this is a fun one. It’s interesting to note that the actors who starred in this film have had difficulty advancing their careers since it came out because people think they’re still missing or dead in the woods somewhere (no, seriously).

17. Candyman

TriStar/Getty

Produced by Clive Barker, who’s also responsible for the Hellraiser franchise, this tackles the fears of a graduate student writing a paper on urban legends, which, naturally, leads him down a path of pure terror, blood, and the Candyman (and, I think, the previously mentioned porta-potty).

18. Rosemary’s Baby

Paramount

The beauty of this classic is in what it doesn’t show. Directed by Roman Polanski and starring a very young Mia Farrow as an almost comically neurotic expectant mother who, unbeknownst to her, shares an NYC apartment building with Satanists, this is Old Hollywood drama at its finest. From beginning ’til end, you’re pulled along a dark thread in anticipation of seeing one thing, which is the one thing the movie never shows you.

19. Jaws

Universal/Getty

Sharks are real and they would actually eat you if given the chance. Sharks are a thing that could happen. You can’t sage away a shark like you can a ghost. In addition to the fear that comes from watching something that could happen in real life, the score to this gets in your subconscious and never leaves.

20. Poltergeist

MGM/Getty

This movie about a family experiencing heavy ghost activity in their home could very well have had a hand in people abandoning their TVs in favor of static-free laptops, phones, and tablets. That static screen buzzing at you, telling you to do things, filling your house with ghost vibes … no thanks!

21. Carrie

Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Yet another classic based on a Stephen King novel, this tells the story of Carrie White, a small-town girl cooped up in a house with her religious nut of a mother. As the anxieties of high-school life build, Carrie comes to find that she has special powers.

22. Let the Right One In

Magnet

Sometimes when you’re young, the desperate need for a best friend outweighs the fact that the friend in question is actually a vampire that keeps themselves alive (and immortal) by killing people and drinking their blood.

23. Seven

New Line

Very little can be said about this without giving away one of the best movie endings ever, but suffice it to say that Brad Pitt stars as a homicide detective investigating a serial killer who models each murder after one of the seven deadly sins. To say any more would be to let the head out of the box.

24. Children of the Corn (1984)

New World

Has that thing ever happened to you where you go on a road trip and stop for gas and realize that if you stray too many miles off the beaten path people start looking at you like you’re from the moon? Venture too far into the wilderness and it’s all just Children of the Corn territory.

25. Eraserhead

Libra Films

This isn’t really intended to be a scary movie, but what director David Lynch is after is the slow build of never-ending unease that’s the signature of all his films. This one achieves it the best.

26. Get Out

Universal Pictures

Jordan Peele's wildly successful directorial debut isn't scary so much as it's unsettling, disturbing, and steeped in some horrifying truths about racism in America. The movie follows an interracial couple, Chris and Rose (he's black, she's white), on a trip to her parents' house. It quickly becomes clear to Chris that something is off about the family and their friends. What he doesn't know yet is that he's being auctioned off to the neighborhood white people, and his allies are not who they seem.

27. Pet Sematary

Paramount Pictures

Based on the eponymous novel by Stephen King, this movie offers a buffet of nightmares. There's Victor Pascow (above) — a friendly ghost, but a ghost who looks like that nonetheless; a back-from-the-dead, scalpel-wielding toddler; a back-from-the-dead, mutilated wife.

28. Hush

Netflix

This Netflix original had the potential to be bad — it's about a deaf woman who lives alone in the woods and has to defend herself from a murderous home invader — but it was incredibly well done. It's fast-paced, surprising, and doesn't patronize its protagonist. Also, it's genuinely scary.